762x39

Yep, buy yourself some Soft Points, sight in with them, and go Hunting. You will likely want to keep your shots with in 150 yards or so, smack them in the boiler room.....Bob's your uncle! I took my SKS deer hunting last year!
 
What they said.
I have taken 3 WT deer with mine and my wife has one. Keeping it under the 150yds and boiler room shots will get it done.
If you should get into reloading, you can load some 150gn bullets for hunting. Now you are good for 200yds, since they will group better and hit harder.
I currently pull out the FMJ on surplus ammo, dump out the powder, charge with the same powder, (I weigh them just to make sure that they are all the same), seat a 150gn Sierra ProHunter or Game king, or a Hornady SP, sight in and go hunting.
Enjoy.

edit: Oh yeah, if you want to use commercial soft points, remove your gas piston and turn the rifle into a bolt action. That way you can save the brass for future use. If you are not going to reload, disregard.
 
rookie wildcat said:
What they said.
I have taken 3 WT deer with mine and my wife has one. Keeping it under the 150yds and boiler room shots will get it done.
If you should get into reloading, you can load some 150gn bullets for hunting. Now you are good for 200yds, since they will group better and hit harder.
I currently pull out the FMJ on surplus ammo, dump out the powder, charge with the same powder, (I weigh them just to make sure that they are all the same), seat a 150gn Sierra ProHunter or Game king, or a Hornady SP, sight in and go hunting.
Enjoy.

edit: Oh yeah, if you want to use commercial soft points, remove your gas piston and turn the rifle into a bolt action. That way you can save the brass for future use. If you are not going to reload, disregard.
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I love the practical side of this rifle and cheap ammo.:D Im gonna get me one too.:cool:
 
Goldenlakepete said:
A 7.62x39 has almost identical ballistics as a .30-30 Winchester. I know several guys who hunt with them - no problem.
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It has similar ballistics to a 125grain 30-30 but not the 170grain 30-30 that most people hunt with. So make sure you compare apples to apples. Most commercial soft points for x39 are 125 grain as well. You can home load with 150gr but your gun will shoot high if you want to alternate with surplus rounds. Also, the 125 grain soft points are boat tails so they fly better than the round nose 30-30.


I've taken a few deer with the PRVI commercial loads. They are hotter than the surplus rounds but give the best groups of any that I've tried. My GF took a B&C whitetail last fall with hers. Dropped it like a bag of sand. As said above, keep it under 150 yards. It runs out of poop real fast.
 
It'll work fine for deer, just not long ranges. I'd say 300 yards max. Same as a 30-30.
Practice first so you know your limit.
Happy hunting with the 858, don't let the fudd, bolt action guys razz you too much!
 
SKS is increasingly popular as a deer gun, nicely bridges the gap between the 12ga shotgun slugs (which pretty much plateaus at 50-75yds) and the "traditional" 303brit, 30-06 etc ... Most people can't accurately shoot a deer-sized animal much past 100yds under field condition anyway.
 
Well this is how my camp breaks down:, and harvest in last 2 years.
2, .303, 1 bear, 1 deer
2, 3030, 1 bear
1, .308
1, 12g
4, 762x39, 6 deer
 
fiddler said:
It has similar ballistics to a 125grain 30-30 but not the 170grain 30-30 that most people hunt with. So make sure you compare apples to apples. Most commercial soft points for x39 are 125 grain as well. You can home load with 150gr but your gun will shoot high if you want to alternate with surplus rounds. Also, the 125 grain soft points are boat tails so they fly better than the round nose 30-30.


I've taken a few deer with the PRVI commercial loads. They are hotter than the surplus rounds but give the best groups of any that I've tried. My GF took a B&C whitetail last fall with hers. Dropped it like a bag of sand. As said above, keep it under 150 yards. It runs out of poop real fast.
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You are correct, let's compare apples to oranges . Let's take a commercial round for both.

125gn Prvi Partisan, zeroed at 200yds
2400fps MV, ME~ 1600ft-lbs.
300yds V~ 1604, E~714 ft-lbs. path -13.5"

170gn .30-30 Fed High Shk Soft Pt, zeroed at 200yds
MV~ 2200fps, ME~1830 ft-lbs
300yds V~1380fps, E~720 ft-lbs, path= -17.4"

So you can see that although the .30-30 throws a larger bullet, at 300yds, it is traveling over 200fps slower and has virtually the same energy as the x39mm. I would say that it has VERY similar ballistics to a 170gn .30-30.
Let's take it one step further.
I pull the 125gn FMJ tips, weigh the charge, remove 2gns, seat a 150gn bullet. I chronied them at just over 2200 FPS. So,

150gn Sierra ProHunter zeroed at 200yds
MV=2245fps, ME~1691ft-lbs
300yds V~1597fps, E~849ft-lbs, path= -18"
350yds V~1500fps, E~750ft-lbs

Now you can try and spin this anyway you want, but if a .30-30 can take a deer with a 170gn bullet, then so can an SKS with its 125gn. Cleanly, with as much energy, and distance. Change it up to a 150gn bullet and it blows the 170gn out of the water.
This old wives' tale keeps coming up every time the SKS is mentioned as a deer rifle.
This summer I am putting it to bed. I am going to load some 174gn bullets in my Remingotn 799, throw them downrange and report the results.
No matter how you want to say it, the ONLY way the .30-30 can beat the 7.62x39mm is if you load spitzer point bullets in it. And then it will do it with ease.
 
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rookie wildcat said:
You are correct, let's compare apples to oranges . Let's take a commercial round for both.

125gn Prvi Partisan, zeroed at 200yds
2400fps MV, ME~ 1600ft-lbs.
300yds V~ 1604, E~714 ft-lbs. path -13.5"

170gn .30-30 Fed High Shk Soft Pt, zeroed at 200yds
MV~ 2200fps, ME~1830 ft-lbs
300yds V~1380fps, E~720 ft-lbs, path= -17.4"

So you can see that although the .30-30 throws a larger bullet, at 300yds, it is traveling over 200fps slower and has virtually the same energy as the x39mm. I would say that it has VERY similar ballistics to a 170gn .30-30.
Let's take it one step further.
I pull the 125gn FMJ tips, weigh the charge, remove 2gns, seat a 150gn bullet. I chronied them at just over 2200 FPS. So,

150gn Sierra ProHunter
MV=2245fps, ME~1691ft-lbs
300yds V~1597fps, E~849ft-lbs
350yds V~1500fps, E~750ft-lbs

Now you can try and spin this anyway you want, but if a .30-30 can take a deer with a 170gn bullet, then so can an SKS with its 125gn. Cleanly, with as much energy, and distance. Change it up to a 150gn bullet and it blows the 170gn out of the water.
This old wives' tale keeps coming up every time the SKS is mentioned as a deer rifle.
This summer I am putting it to bed. I am going to load some 174gn bullets in my Remingotn 799, throw them downrange and report the results.
No matter how you want to say it, the ONLY way the .30-30 can beat the 7.62x39mm is if you load spitzer point bullets in it. And then it will do it with ease.
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Good info! Thanks :cool:
 
My wife shot a 7-year old cow moose (huge!) at 220 paces (she was shooting from a small ridge, so the actual distance was probably about 150) with an AK47. Put 3 bullets in the lungs. The moose took about 3 steps and laid down. Unfortunately, I hadn't told her to wait a while before going after it, so the moose got up and ran another 250-300 yds. I also shot a black bear with the same gun. The bear, though not big, fell within 15 feet. Both critters were as dead as when I shot some with much bigger guns.

BTW - God, that was a nice little gun - 18.5 in. barrel (with an extension welded on), folding stock, 20 and 30-shot mags. I hate the Lieberals for making it illegal!!!!!
 
The only problem with the X39 is the 123g bullets. Very light and low sectional density. At x39 velocitys they will penetrate deep enough for broad side shots on small deer but don't expect any more penetration that that, in other words, don't shoot a moose in the shoulder and expect to reach the far side of the vitals every time.

I know a guy that uses the 123g Winchester power point bullets with good results for deer.
 
Republic of Alberta said:
The only problem with the X39 is the 123g bullets. Very light and low sectional density. At x39 velocitys they will penetrate deep enough for broad side shots on small deer but don't expect any more penetration that that, in other words, don't shoot a moose in the shoulder and expect to reach the far side of the vitals every time.

I know a guy that uses the 123g Winchester power point bullets with good results for deer.
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Don't shoot a moose in the shoulder at all let alone shoot a moose with a 125gn bullet. I wouldn't shoot a moose in the shoulder with a .30-06 and 220gn bullets. Why would you want to do that? Wait a minute or two, he'll move. Boiler room. Every time.
One large WT buck I shot at 75yds with the SKS. 125gn sierra prohunter. Heart shot, broadside. Through and through. He went 20yds before piling up.
 
People need to know the limits of their hunting cartridges and bullets. Selling the X39 with 125g Sierra's as the equivalent of the 30-30 with 150 or 170g bullets is plain wrong, there big difference in penetration, especially on hard matter like bone.
 
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